Salvere Blog: Half Way Through

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Okay, it’s July and we stand here half way through the year. Take a minute to reflect. What unexpected things happened? What events happened that you felt excited about? Where do you find yourself struggling? How are you connecting with your tribe?

These last two plus years certainly provided an opportunity for us to reflect on various parts of life and the activities/people/experiences we choose to include in our days. What positive changes did you make to your life?

How did you navigate change over the last 6 months?

What do you have planned for the next 6 months?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email lisa@SalvereHealthandFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and staying the path to continuous growth opportunities and taking time for curiosity.

Salvere Blog: Halfway There

by Salvere Health and Fitness

July marks halfway through the year. Did you set resolutions this year? Or maybe intentions or ideas for growth? If you didn’t, What stopped you? If you did, what motivated you?

Sitting here in the month of July take a little time to look back on the year. Think through what’s happened, different things you’ve done, things that happened that you didn’t plan for, any changes in your life and things you’ve accomplished. Where are you seeing growth? Where have you seen a few things that you might want to investigate how to do them differently in the future?

Reflecting back on the year-to-date, what intentions, goals, ideas do you see yourself accomplishing in the second half the year?

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact, email Lisa@SalvereHealthAndFitness.com or call 410.707.0055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas! Thank you for reading and taking the steps to become a healthier YOU.

Salvere Blog: Wait, Wait… Don’t Set Your Resolution Yet

by Salvere Health and Fitness

Do New Years Resolutions really work — From a long term perspective anyway. Why do you think??  Think back to previous years and the resolutions and goals you set for the year.  What did you plan on accomplishing? What were your results? What went well? What was harder then you planned?

Often with new years resolutions, we put too much on our plate to start the new year. We attempt to do everything all at once and it’s too much. We look at the new  year as the only time to “make a new beginning”. While our intentions come from a good place, we often set ourselves up for more then we can realistically accomplish then comes that feeling of failure.

If you made or want to make a new years resolution this year regarding something(s) health and fitness related, challenge yourself to really really really (did I say really?) come to the WHY before you set any goals.

— Why do you matter?
— What do you want to be able to do? Accomplish? Achieve? Impact?
— What does a healthier you look like?

Health and fitness continues to be a popular topic of discussion and motivation for our resolutions. You can’t escape the discussions on weight loss this time of year, within our own heads as well as outward with friends, family, doctors, tv, radio and social media.  Do health resolutions even work? Why do we lose steam in two to three months?? Are we setting goals and then mapping out a plan or schedule? Why do we think we can do so much at once? Are we making plans based on what we want to do individually or what “they” tell us we should?

Your health is the best, most wonderful gift you can give yourself and those around you — It’s not a punishment and you are more then a number on the scale. Look at your health differently — It’s a forever process and should include things you ENJOY with PEOPLE you ENJOY!

by Lisa Martin, owner and personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. To contact her, call (410) 707-0055 or email Lisa@SalvereHealthAndFitness.com.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas!  Thank you for reading and taking the steps to become a healthier YOU.

Salvere Blog: Rethinking Goals

by Salvere Health and Fitness

A new year already, and I didn’t quite get through the long list of to do’s from 2015! Did I set unreasonable goals or was I just overly ambitious?? Perhaps I’m going about this all-wrong and need to rethink the process. Does my life revolve around a new year with new goals and the previous year goals are just history? Kind of a clean slate idea!! All I know is that I am the only one accountable and if that’s the case, I can see some flaws in that set up.

If setting a goal of “getting in shape “ is high on the list, then what are the steps that should be taken to ensure success??? Goals are personal and need to be created knowing life style and time commitment. They also need to be achievable. Are you using a step-by- step approach with more easily achievable successes that would encourage you to continue?

Goal 1: find the type of activity that would make you want to continue
Goal 2: enlist some of your best buddies to join in
Goal 3: include family activities such as biking, hiking or wall climbing
Goal 4: have many choices such as yoga, tai chi, walking, etc.
Goal 5: try something new

Success can be measured in how your feel. Are you happier? Do you feel more connected to your family or community? Do you have more energy? Do you look in the mirror and think “Hey – not too bad?”

Get out there and enjoy every minute!

by Pam Beck, personal trainer at Salvere Health and Fitness. If you’d like to contact Pam, email her at PamB@SalvereHealthAndFitness.com or call her at (443) 799-6055.

We welcome your thoughts and ideas!  Thank you for reading and taking the steps to become a healthier YOU.

Breaking Down BMI – Part II

Going back to BMI — I know I know, do we have to??  Lets get through part two then we don’t ever have to chat about it again – Unless you bring it up and want some more info!  When we left off two weeks ago, we were chatting about the limitations of BMI or why we need some other tool or measurement.

Since the BMI calculation uses your height and weight, your measurement for success greatly limits itself (unless you can grow a few inches) to simply changing your weight.  Now we think it sounds more sophisticated then just weight itself and it is, a little.  BMI becomes very useful especially when looking at children and their development, since they do grow up (in height that is!).  Since obesity is such a hot topic around this country, even sadly with the younger people in our worlds.  Because weight and emotion can become so intertwined, the best thing to encourage with this population is maintaining weight as they grow in height.  This causes the BMI to decrease even though their weight never changed.  In these situations, the best course of action does not encourage weight loss, which can be emotionally damaging and often not healthy in the bigger picture.

BMI varies greatly when looking at adults.  First, it does not measure an improvement in body composition.  Some individuals get labeled as overweight or obese because of a high amount of muscle.  The muscle increases their weight therefore causing the unhealthy BMI.  Second, the continued hyperfocus on weight loss and BMI does not take into consideration health on any level.  Plenty of people carry extra weight yet maintain perfect health and vice versa — plenty of people show the perfect weight yet take enough medication to open a small pharmacy.

Bottom line, if we all took the opportunity to develop health and let our bodies respond accordingly, we’d change our society!

Your Resolutions– Boom or bust??

January brings lots of attention to the workout industry. As a trainer, I’ve heard lots of “I’m not making resolutions this year” yet attendance at the gym still picked up, calls to the studio still increased and Yoga class consisted of lots of hands and feet everywhere. Where’s the NO to resolutions in all this???

To resolve to accomplish something this year means you will reach your goal on DECEMBER 31ST, 2014. Why then does our energy to achieve what we started burn out so quickly?

Our tip for your resolution, make small goals for each month leading up to that end of the year big achievement! Take baby steps and make them actionable (yes is a word!!). For instance, I will walk three days per week all month. Pick only one or two things to accomplish. Then praise yourself for achieving what you said you would!

Begin with the End in Mind

For those of you who read “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey know this habit!  One of the things he talks about is sitting back and reflecting on what you want to say you accomplished in life.  If you’ve never done this, it takes being honest with yourself but can be a great, eye opening experience.  Think long and hard about what means the most to you, your passions and things you want to experience.  Begin to write them down on paper.  Do this part!  Often we simply think about things but never take the time to write them, to commit to them…

Once you know what you want to achieve in life, use these as regular reminders as you make choices throughout your day.  Do your decisions line up with your goals and life vision?  Believe in yourself and DREAM big……. Anything is possible…. We all posses unique gifts and often forget to let them shine through.  Take time today or this week to envision your life as you would like to see it!  Then take action and make it a reality…  Email us your dreams and goals.  We’d love to support  you and see you move towards living the life you want.

Goals vs. Dreams

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”  – Napoleon Hill

We all know about goals and dreams.  How do you begin to differentiate between a goal and a dream and how do the two work together?  Now think of something you always wanted to do or achieve.  Think big and think out of the box.  Often we limit our thinking when it comes to dreams because we think it can’t be done.  Take this opportunity to think without limits.  DREAM and write it down on paper.

Once you know your dream, set your goals based on the steps you need to live this dream!  Many times we set goals based on false dreams or something not true to your heart, especially with regard to health and fitness.  In the end, we fail to achieve the goal we set for ourselves.  Decide why you start something and let it be true to you.  Take it step by step and enjoy the journey!

The Event a Month Journey

This year started with a personal goal of one event per month for the entire year.  Looking forward to this journey, I mapped out a few events and started the planning process.  January, great event… The Frozen Finger Five Miler — More like the frozen snot event but COLD none the less.  Then February came and things started what felt like a down hill fall… The blizzards came first so no event.  March started with two events planned, then came the innocent basketball game and a severely sprained ankle!  My first injury EVER and the test of mental toughness began.

Here we are in December… thirteen events total for the year!!!!  Including two half ironman bike legs (thats 56 miles), a duathlon (run bike run), a half marathon (13.1 miles), a relay marathon (7 miles), several 5 milers and numerous 5K’s.  While the injury made it’s presence known several times throughout the year, the process came with many lessons.  It challenged my competitiveness, taught me to sit still for a few minutes, helped me learn to modify my goals based on life and that I could accomplish what I set my mind on.

Challenge yourself!!

Running and Life??

This year has been a year of more running for me then any other time in my life. As someone that looked for every reason to get out of running any distance longer then a short sprint as a young athlete, it’s become a quite enjoyable part of my adult life, especially over the past year… While out on a training run a few weeks ago, I got to thinking about how running can simulate life… And here’s what came of that experience.

Running… Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it sucks… Sometimes it’s slow and uphill, sometimes you coast downhill and other times it flat and steady. Regardless, you can only take one step at a time and put one foot in front of the other to get to your destination…

If you look too far ahead, it can be overwhelming. If you focus on what is right in front of your, things feel more achievable. Occasionally glance up to see your progress… When the finish line is near, it’s exciting!!